United States Agency for International Development. There is no aid in USAID. The AID does not stand for aid.
It is not what it appears to be.
USAID was originally created by RFK through an executive order.
It was a 40 Billion dollar a year slush fund.
I said it on the tariffs thread. If you really want to know what USAID has been up to give Mike Benz a listen. He has been researching and releasing info on them for years.
Maybe when America takes over Gaza to build a bigly beautiful Gaza Riviera things will be hugly greatly better than no one has ever seen before ? We are screwed !
Have you ever seen a parent threaten to “sit between” quarreling siblings ? That’s what this is.
You do realize these factions have been fighting since the crucifying of Jesus… No ? They won’t just stop.. without a major deterrence.
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United States Agency for International Development. There is no aid in USAID. The AID does not stand for aid.
Bingo. It’s taking American money and giving it to rich people in other countries at best, and anti-American terrorists at worst. The fact people are more upset about Elon and DOGE eliminating the fraud, rather than the fraud itself tells you everything you need to know.
Heck look at all the fraud just in MN under the Walz regime, over $600M alone from Feeding our Future/Daycare/Medicaid/Medicare, and somehow people still support him. Stealing money from feeding children, caring for children and medical care for the elderly and disadvantaged, with direct kick backs from these criminals to the DFL, and they still have nearly the same level of support.
United States Agency for International Development. There is no aid in USAID. The AID does not stand for aid.
It is not what it appears to be.
USAID was originally created by RFK through an executive order.
It was a 40 Billion dollar a year slush fund.I said it on the tariffs thread. If you really want to know what USAID has been up to give Mike Benz a listen. He has been researching and releasing info on them for years.
Michael Benz, a former Trump State Department official whose work has been cited in congressional hearings and promoted by Elon Musk, has become a go-to voice for Republican criticism of government and social media censorship in the past year.
But before his stints in government and as a pundit, Benz appears to have been a pseudonymous alt-right content creator who courted and interacted with white nationalists and posted videos espousing racist conspiracy theories, according to recordings, livestreams and blog posts
“Let me be clear: I am extremely proud of this.”
Benz in relation to his persona as FrameGame.
The fact people are more upset about Elon and DOGE eliminating the fraud, rather than the fraud itself tells you everything you need to know.
I’m occasionally forced to listen to MPR/NPR. Long story… Last night the show I overheard had a whole lot of hand wringing over the potential for conflicts of interest with Musk in his position. I found it rather amusing thinking I’ve never heard a long winded conversation about the fact D.C. is one big conflict of interest and the fact most congress members see their net worth multiply exponentially while in office. The hypocrisy is thick.
MPR and NPrs funding will soon be on the chopping block. The same people in Washington kicking and screaming about USAID and other audits being conducted are the same people who wanted to hire 87,000 more IRS agents to audit you.
The IRS was told to ignore the email requesting their resignation. They have been deemed critical employees. Anyone who thinks its a good idea to fire the people who physically collect your revenue is stupid. Trump doesn’t want to reduce spending or relieve the burden on tax payers. He wants to redirect funds to his priorities and collect as much as possible. I’m looking forward to when he raises my income taxes for a second time, should be fun. And DOGE was kicked out of the treasury today so hopefully he will realize there is a limit to his actions. Your right the hypocrisy is thick.
OH HE IS THE BOOGEY MAN !!!! The guy exposing all the waste is a white supremecist… so lets ignore the crazy spending and denounce him and start sending the billion$ for the trans rewrite of cinderella and winnie the pooh in bangladesh. 
HIS PRIORITY IS NO SECRET… MAGA !!!
LMAO – I went in the living room and told Dad Trump is cleaning house. He turned on the Criminal News Network (cnn) and this is what I got out of the babbling
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That’s interesting because when the tax cuts were implemented it cut my taxes by 3.5%.
I doubt this judges ruling is going to hold up. We now have a judge dictating what the executive branch can and can’t do under article 2 of the constitution.
Yesterday Gim was right it takes Congress to change the funding. That is the point of all of this. Congress hasn’t been doing its job.
They have allowed a 40 billion dollar a year slush fund to go uncheck for years. There are a number of republicans that are in favor of what USAID has been doing they just haven’t spoken about it yet.
The line of “Elon wasn’t elected” is bogus. Anyone the casted a vote for Trump knew very well that Elon was going to be part of the administration and what role he would play with DOGE. The campaigned on it for months.
Well you see how this works is that there are 3 branches of government, and the job of the Supreme Court is to tell the other 2 if they are being legal. It might not hold up but its still their job to check the executive and the legislative branches. There was never really any tax cuts, he just rearranged the tax brackets and removed several levels. Instead of being on a lower tier I was moved up and had to pay the higher rate. I don’t really mind the simplification of the tax brackets, I just was in an unlucky spot, but I might as well bitch about it. Plenty of Republicans are in favor of USAID, its how we covertly fund the overthrow of governments, and some of them are into that.
Anyone the casted a vote for Trump knew very well that Elon was going to be part of the administration and what role he would play with DOGE. The campaigned on it for months.
Most people that had their mind made to vote democrat tuned him out and didn’t listen. Same goes for many of the Trump voters, many didn’t tune her in
That’s interesting because when the tax cuts were implemented it cut my taxes by 3.5%.
I doubt this judges ruling is going to hold up. We now have a judge dictating what the executive branch can and can’t do under article 2 of the constitution.
Yesterday Gim was right it takes Congress to change the funding. That is the point of all of this. Congress hasn’t been doing its job.
They have allowed a 40 billion dollar a year slush fund to go uncheck for years. There are a number of republicans that are in favor of what USAID has been doing they just haven’t spoken about it yet.The line of “Elon wasn’t elected” is bogus. Anyone the casted a vote for Trump knew very well that Elon was going to be part of the administration and what role he would play with DOGE. The campaigned on it for months.
The whole “Elon wasn’t elected” is a lame attempt for people to discredit him because they don’t like what he is doing. None of a presidents cabinet is elected nor are many, if not all, senior level government positions.
We have a budget line item to bring Sesame Street to kids in Iraq…for $20m. If people can’t see the bloat and spending their heads are in the sand.
We spend billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid meanwhile the flooding in NC is still not cleaned up and the state of California has so mismanaged themselves they won’t be able to afford to clean up and rebuild after the fires.
I don’t agree with all of Trumps rhetoric but, if at the very least, these fund get used for Americans we have done the right thing.
USAID is the shiny object at the moment but it’s not that far off from any other department or government program.
I happen to have a more vested interest in the Department of Defense because of my army time. Typically calls to cut defense spending cause outrage from a certain group, labeling it unpatriotic and accusing others of not supporting the troops. The reality is there are billions upon billions wasted annually under the guise of “defense.” This includes contracts for weapons, programs, and equipment that will never help our country out. Often contractors will pretty much make s**t up just to make a new aircraft or armored vehicle that the military doesn’t want or need, but the head of that contract company is friends with someone in the government and they spend more on lobbying in one year than any of us will see in a lifetime.
I’m all for eliminating BS spending…. let’s make sure it’s everywhere. And please, don’t turn your back on cutting spending just because it’s labeled “defense. ”
“Drain the swamp” sounds great but it needs to be more than just DC or who your favorite podcast host or Twitter account brings up. Stop giving contacts to family and buddies who are getting filthy rich off our tax money. I haven’t seen anything yet from either party suggesting they’re interested in doing that.
Amen Dan. I had a customer in Maui that was a retired civilian “contractor” who supplied daily rations to support Desert Storm. He said he sat at a computer in the US, ordering food and having it shipped to the desert… and his minimum profit after logistics was not less than 800%. In other words, for every dollar he spent getting food to the mess tents, he made $8. And he supplied $100’s of thousands of dollars worth… a month ! He owned a nice condo on Maui 
Amen Dan. I had a customer in Maui that was a retired civilian “contractor” who supplied daily rations to support Desert Storm. He said he sat at a computer in the US, ordering food and having it shipped to the desert… and his minimum profit after logistics was not less than 800%. In other words, for every dollar he spent getting food to the mess tents, he made $8. And he supplied $100’s of thousands of dollars worth… a month ! He owned a nice condo on Maui
I am looking for a new job. Do you have a contact? 
Agree completely Dan.
I saw the other day about the USAID donations to sesame street and today – POOOFFFF – Gone There are people blabbing on TV that the sesame street donations are wrong. I looked through the 2023/24 financials and they are not individually listed. However the Ahlan Simsim Initiative site has this posted on their financial page:
“USAID Iraq
Sesame Workshop is partnering with USAID to produce Ahlan Simsim Iraq, a program promoting inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups. Our work includes digital outreach and local TV broadcasts to families, tools for caregivers and teachers to promote early learning, and opportunities for Iraqi youth to meaningfully engage in community dialogue.”
USAID website:
On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs. Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST).
For USAID personnel currently posted outside the United States, the Agency, in coordination with missions and the Department of State, is currently preparing a plan, in accordance with all applicable requirements and laws, under which the Agency would arrange and pay for return travel to the United States within 30 days and provide for the termination of PSC and ISC contracts that are not determined to be essential. The Agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons. For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming.
Thank you for your service.
Additionally and I was looking for if USAID has donated to Morgan Stanley Foundation or a few other popular sponsors of children programming, more and more USAID donations/Partnerships are coming up
$70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
$47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
“Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
$32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
• $8.3 million for “equity and inclusion” education.
• $7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid “binary-gender language.”
• $6.3 million to study men having sex with other men in South Africa.Taliban
• $6 million to advance LGBTQ principles in “priority countries around the world.”
• $5.5 million to promote LGBTQ causes in Uganda.
• $3.9 million to promote LGBTQ causes in Western Balkans.
• $2.5 million to promote inclusion in Vietnam.
• $2 million for sex changes and LBGTQ “activism” and sex changes in Guatemala.
• $1.5 million to advance “diversity, equity and inclusion” in Serbian workplaces.
USAID also spent millions to promote transgenderism through various media outlets including using $47,000 of taxpayer funds to produce a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender opera in Columbia, $70,000 for a “DEI-themed musical” in Ireland and $2 million for a “transgender comic book in Peru.”
Ockham’s razor
a scientific and philosophical rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities
Or
KISS – keep it simple stupid
I said in other threads he’s using the tariffs as a club. He will get the compliance he wants, that favors the US, and then move forward.
Same with trade agreements, cabinet appointments and everything else. He has less than 2 years to make historical changes to the landscape- that is barely enough. If we lose seats in the mid terms his last two years will be spent fighting impeachment.
EVERYTHING is at warp speed right now to get it done and keep the dems off balance. DOGE is doing what he promised. It’s only his third week in office. He has literally done more in these three weeks than Biden in 4 years in terms of good – Biden and whoever was pulling his strings did not have an America first policy.
They will dig up much more waste and dems AND republicans alike who are profiting from this will push back. You will start to see who very soon.
Gaza? Haha -their neighbors need to get their act together and police themselves. No one takes Palestinians because they always cause uprisings/problems with their new “parents” EVERY time. You can look this up anywhere for the historical perspective. We have spent hundreds of billions there in the past decades-all w the same outcome. He is going to force them to try something new. Definition of insanity:keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. That is NOT his style. He did not create the empire he did by being naive or stupid.
Give him time – he is giving all parties, at home and abroad, the rope needed to hang themselves or the ability to get their sh-t together – whatever benefits the United States the most is his goal.
My two cents
As I stated in the other Tariff thread, I’m all for eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse. No issue there. USAID clearly had some of that. But there’s a legal way to do this. You can’t just chop it up on a weekend. Since Congress created it, Congress has to remove it. No agency can unilaterally be eliminated without approval from Congress. That’s why it’s now in court.
I’m not an economist, so I don’t really know what the outcome of tariffs are. They seem to be more of a negotiating tool. A 25% tariff on goods from our neighbors would clearly add costs to us here in the short term; in the long term, I don’t know.
The 10% tariff on China, I am more ok with. I don’t really see China negotiating with us about it. They’ll just fire back with their own.
If they want to save a lot of money, start with defense contracts at the Pentagon. They have literally failed 7 straight annual audits. They have no idea where their money goes.
DOGE has existed twice before.
Once under Clinton – National Partnership for Reinventing Government.
Truman – Truman Committee.
Under Truman they were able to save $7 million dollars over 7 years. In todays dollars that would total to $250 Billion.
So if somehow Congress went along with getting rid of USAID. Those same 7 years would save us $280 billion plus.
Gim – I see the government union filed a lawsuit tonight. This is after Rubio came out today saying USAID will maintain 248 employees instead of the 14,000 it has.
USAID was signed into law by executive order by JFK.
Add me to the list of people who wants to see the Defense budget not get a “free pass” on all these cuts. I’m pro troops, peace by strength, and all that…but there’s enough bloat and corruption there to match all other departments added together. We will see if Don really has the stones it takes to look there or not
USAID was signed into law by executive order by JFK.
That’s correct, I misspoke earlier.
So maybe it can be eliminated or merged into State without congressional approval. Guess we’ll see what the court says.
I’m all for him blowing this up. So tired of the crooks getting our money and misusing it.
2 giant crooks going completely unchecked right now. you think you got fleeced before, just sit back and get your popcorn out.
and before you get your pitchforks out and call me a bleeding heart librullll, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Don, as far as being “screwed”, do you have examples from his first term that screwed the average person??
When the administration changed the tax laws in 2017 or 2018, they took away the many of the working persons write-offs such as equipment and tool purchases, union dues, and license fees. Instead they increased the standard deduction. Now in my case, that meat I lost approximately 10-15k in write offs, while the barista at Starbucks working part time, got the same deduction I did. Their refund went up on a percentage basis, while mine went up quite a bit. For the blue collar working class, that was a real hit in the pocket book.
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